Eric
by Julie Reed
Summary: My take on Eric's background story, using facts from the books but with aesthetics from the movies, including some locations and the characters' physical appearances. The story covers Eric's pre-initiation and the following years until his death. Eventual Eric/OC.
1. Chapter 1 - The Dauntless Prowler

**Chapter 1 - The Dauntless Prowler  
**

Eric is a hundred percent sure that he hasn't seen that face before, which is unusual taking into consideration that Erudite learning groups are closed once they all have been sorted out. He has a good photographic memory and knows how all the people that walk up and down the Erudite compound look like. That one, that smudged face belonging to the girl that stands at the back of the crowd has never appeared before his eyes. The girl in question is pulling the sleeves of her dark blue jacket and adjusting the collar of her shirt so that it won't be so tight around her neck. Eric notices that her cheeks are slightly red and the movement of her chest denotes a quick breathing. With a slow, stealthy pace, Eric moves towards the intruder while keeping one eye on her uneven sleeves and the other on the teacher.

Eric studies the girl's appearance as if she were a rare human specimen that has come from outer space. Close up, the leather surrounding the soles of her shoes is stained with a few drops of mud that go up all the way to the bottom of her pants. Eric's Erudite brain traces all the streets of Chicago, the ones leading to the center, and the ones leading to the living areas of the other factions. He sniffs the air. Iron.

'What you're doing is illegal,' whispers Eric with an intonation that is more appropriate to use in court than in social interactions. The intruder doesn't reply, or even flinch at all. She keeps nodding with conviction at the words coming from the teacher, although Eric knows that she probably can't understand any of it. She isn't intelligent enough, is she. 'You are a fool,' he says curling his upper lip in disdain.

The trespasser slowly bends the neck in his direction. Her flat blue eyes land first on his nose, then on his eyes. She chuckles, then punches his nose, and laughs once again when Eric falls on his knees to cover his bloody face. The Erudite boy quickly looses track of the muddy shoes, which disappear in the pandemonium that has just broken out among his schoolmates. He tastes his own blood on his lips, but refuses any help when the teacher tries to help him stand.

'It was that Dauntless girl!' he screams with a deep angry voice, 'I saw her!'

'What are you talking about, Eric?' the teacher shakes her head with a smile, 'I think you're verily confused.'

Eric turns his deadly eyes towards the teacher as his nostrils flare with hostility. He imagines himself stabbing the woman with one of the pens that hang from the pocket of her blouse, until she bleeds, and then pushing a bit more. However, all the actions that come out of his thoughts are a frustrated moan and a heavy thump on the floor.

At lunch time, Eric is too irritated to be sociable, so he exits the library as soon as he is allowed to. The sun is finally showing up after a long cold winter and the bright blue sky softens his mood to the point that he can almost enjoy the presence of other people around him. He always likes to sit on the edge of the glass-dome of the library because the reflections of the sun on the glass warm his back and that is very much needed on those days that drift between the cold winter and humid spring. The trees continue to be leafless, but at least the snow has melted and the grass has grown back again.

Eric sips at his soda. He lifts the bottle in the air and places it in front of his face. Through the bubbles of the semitransparent liquid, people become nothing but blurry ghosts that float from one point to the other. Eric switches position and observes the other Erudite students who are properly sitting on the benches. They interact with each other using exquisite manners, their spines as straight as those of a book, their chins as high as their intellect and probably their arrogance too. Suddenly, a big dark blur. Eric puts the bottle down expecting to be reprimanded by an adult for sitting there. He is already putting on his I-don't-care face when his eyes open wide. It's the intruder.

'So you're not very social, huh?' she sits down next to him like they've been friends forever. She looks at his soda. 'Can I have some?'

'No!' Eric says louder than he has expected, 'no, you can't.'

''s okay. I wanted to apologise for ruining your shirt,' she points at the blood drops, 'mustn't be so nice for an Erudite to walk around with dirty clothes... especially from blood.'

'It's- what do you want?' Eric turns to her with a quick movement and dares to stare at her with the same violence that her punch had delivered, 'my nose is fine, by the way.'

'Sure, your nose,' she tries to contain a laugh, 'I don't want anything. I'm just exploring.'

'So, why are you talking to me again?' he says ill-mannered.

The girl drops her shoulders and sticks out her neck with a bored-to-death look. She sighs, looks around and stands up.

'Well, because I punched your nose? That sounds like more than enough to start a conversation,' her arms cross over her ribcage, 'plus, you called me a fool.'

'Do you punch everyone that calls you a fool?'

'Yeah.'

She says that with no pride at all, she says it like a fact, like an universal truth, which confirms to Eric that she must belong to Dauntless, because only one of them would sound so phlegmatic about being verbally attacked, or attacking someone physically for that matter. It's their everyday. She probably has been punching noses since kindergarten. Eric shakes his head.

'But don't worry,' she continues, regaining her composure, 'being smart is boring,' her eyes get distracted by something at the other end of the street, 'at least being a smart Erudite is boring. Take care, kid.'

 _Kid_. Eric stands up feeling the need to overpower her at least with his size. She may have punched his nose but he is taller and he's sure he can injure her if he wants to. He seizes her arm violently, and then, as soon as he knows it, he's on the floor again, this time curled like the baby he had been once, and with his hands trying to protect his crotch from a hit it has already taken. The shadow of the Dauntless prowler hides the sun from his face while she looks down at him with an irritating smirk. The girl runs away stepping over the glass-dome, sliding down the other side, and disappearing into the crowded streets that lead to the city center.

It is the first time in Eric's erudite life that his thoughts are left on a side. The wilderness takes over, anger rises inside him and so does violence. As soon as both his feet are stable on the ground again, Eric turns his eyes towards the street where the intruder has disappeared, and runs. The cold air sweeps the hair away from his bright eyes, the pavement slides beneath his feet and feels like a slippery road towards freedom, freedom of action. The streets whose architecture he knows by heart suddenly go through a renewal in Eric's eyes; benches become obstacles to jump over, streetlights turn into potential fences, alleys transform into shortcuts.

Out of breath, Eric arrives to Michigan Ave. His hands collapse on his knees when he tries to catch his breath, and out of the corner of his eye he stops to contemplate the dark windows of The Hub. Momentarily, he thinks of the Choosing Ceremony, his own Choosing Ceremony, stepping into the magnificent black towers as an Erudite, coming out as something else, perhaps. He shakes his head. Instinct forces him to watch the trains as they slow down and approach a curve.

At that time of the day there are not too many people on the streets, children are in school, adults are working, factionless are... surviving. Standing on the platform is a single person, a youngster, the intruder. As if she has sensed his eyes on her, she turns around and with a daring look steps closer to the edge of the platform. Eric bites his lower lip. The girl shakes her head at his indecision, and in one second she's gone, her left leg disappearing the last inside the first car of the train. Something pushes Eric to suck it up and run towards the train. He is almost flying instead of running, his irises focused on one single entrance, the one of the fifth car. He visualises the jump right before the strong airflow almost makes him loose his balance. If he doesn't jump, he'll fall into the track, and die. If he does, he may die as well. Eric launches himself in the air, his arms stretching and aiming for the handles by the wagon door. He's in.

'Now what?' that voice again, 'are you going to fight me?'

'No,' Eric can barely talk, 'not now at least.'

The girl leans against a window and looks outside, although she can't help but observe him and control his movements. Eric stands up and takes a look at her evaluating if it would be a good time to punch her in the face. However, experience tells him that it is not a good idea, not in a moving train with open doors.

'Are you scared?' she laughs.

'No,' he snaps, 'where are you going?'

'I told you, I'm exploring,' she sits down on the floor, her legs almost hanging out the door, 'wanna come with me?'

Eric notices a handle on the wall. He feels the urge to get a hold of it, but refuses. Not in front of the Dauntless. She looks up at him from the floor. Her blue eyes shine with the light of the sun that trespasses the glass of the windows, and also with amusement.

'You can jump off any time you want,' she says.

Eric exhales deeply. He has an idea of where the train is going, he has studied the tracks, the stations, the stops. He frowns. He has never asked himself why the train never stops at The Hub, why it keeps moving as the Dauntless jump into it. He feels stupid for not noticing, and also for embarking on an adventure that he's not sure he can handle. He looks at the girl looking for some sort of reassurance. She seems calm and relaxed, perhaps a little bit cautious about his presence. Eric wonders how she looks like with Dauntless clothes.

'Did you steal those?' he points at her jacket.

'I took them from a transfer, before she got rid of them,' she shrugs, 'not sure if it counts as stealing.'

'Do you have clothes from all the factions?' Eric approaches her cautiously.

'Yeah,' she sounds proud.

The girl moves to a side and pats the floor with her hand. Eric distinguishes a small tattoo right under the sleeve but can't guess the shape before it is covered again. He sits down at the opposite end of the door, leaving as much space in-between them as possible. He keeps his feet inside and away from the edge, but manages to sit straight and look at the landscape.

The tracks are covered in snow that hasn't melted. Eric follows the parallel metal lines into the horizon and reaches to see the fence surrounding the city. Looking ahead, he sees the old city of Chicago, the broken bridges, and destroyed buildings of the outskirts. Vegetation has taken over some of the oldest structures, dark green spots decorate the façades, break into windows, claim what has been abandoned.

'Where are we going?' he hates to ask questions, 'huh?' he insists after a few seconds.

'Home,' the girl finally replies standing up, 'this is where initiates jump off to go to the Pit,' she points at a roof full of gravel. Eric's body is filled up with adrenaline. He imagines himself going back _home_ in the train every day, jumping into the nothingness of thin air, pretending that he's flying.

'But we're going off at the next one,' she looks outside the door.

Eric is about to ask _why_ when he realises that he's obviously wearing his Erudite clothes. He can't go into Dauntless like that, it is not allowed, he would be punished, if not killed by Dauntless savages. Suddenly, he feels pressure on his arm, and then he's flying again, the girl jumping in front of him and pulling him out of the train. He falls on the ground, on black hard dirty pavement. It hurts, but he hides it. Behind two metal containers, she kneels on the floor, feels the wall of the building with her pale fingers, and removes a plank of metal. Yellow, white, black, green, grey. Faction clothes. Eric turns around when she strips down to her underwear. He peeks at her body as she dresses up in her Dauntless clothes. He inspects her few tattoos and tries to count her scars. She has more scars than tattoos, that's for sure.

'Is it legal to get tattoos at your age?' he asks intrigued.

'No, but I don't care as long as no one knows,' she threatens him.

Eric's anger comes back and his hand flies to her long neck instantly.

'Don't you dare threaten me,' he says staring into her eyes. He notices how expressive her face is, but unfortunately fear isn't on display, neither is submission. The girl's elbow impacts on his cheek.

'Learn to fight before you try to touch me again,' she turns around and walks away, 'also, you're my guest, so behave.'

Eric shuts up when he hears voices coming from the other side of the walls. He hurries up to catch her pace and positions himself beside her to show that he is not a dog that she can control. They enter a dark and moist narrow path made of stone with intercalated planks of metal that seem to support some areas. The Dauntless girl touches the walls sliding her fingers over the surface as if she were verifying its current state. They cross a rusty bridge that stands a few meters above the ground and connects with a big cubical building. She opens the door, turns right, and opens a second one. It's an apartment. Or at least, the Dauntless concept of it.

'You're safe here,' she says closing the window blinds.

She sits on a single bed that's right under the window she just covered. The room is big for her size, it looks like at some point it was inhabited by many people, but now it seems deserted. The walls are grey and only decorated by several cracks on the paint. There is a lonely table with a chair on the opposite corner of the bed, a small fridge and a set of knives stabbed on the wall.

'I guess those are not for cooking,' Eric says to himself.

'They're not,' the girl talks close to his ear. She circles him like a shark, hopping once on one leg when the first round is over. She's entertained by a reason Eric can't comprehend. 'I like to have people over,' she says.

'Don't your parents mind that you bring people from other factions?' Eric tries to mock her.

'My parents are dead,' she's serious for once second, then hops again in one leg. 'But I'm not, so that's good, right?'

Eric nods.

'What's your name?' he asks.

'Are you gonna report my _illegal activities_?' she imitates his voice.

'I can't now, because I have followed you.'

'You can say I forced you,' her intonation is funny again, 'you're an Erudite, you can come up with something smart, but maybe...' she circles him again, 'you don't want to report me.'

'I only want to know your name, you should learn to shut up,' Eric steps out of the imaginary circle that she's tracing.

'My name's Delta. Who are you?'

'Eric,' he says through gritted teeth.

Delta is satisfied with his reply. She hops away and stands on the bed like a guard in a tower. Eric sends her a malicious stare with narrowed eyes and a tense jaw.

'I already apologised for the punch,' she sits down, 'I guess I'm also sorry for the kick in your parts... and the cheek, I'm sorry for that too.'

'I don't know if an apologise is enough.'

'What do you want instead?' she approaches him with a steady pace, her shoulders back and her head held high. She's ready for negotiation, as ready as a Dauntless teenager can be.

'You show me yours, and I show you mine,' Eric smirks, 'you like exploring, don't you?' Eric is empowered and begins to circle her instead, 'you show me the Dauntless compound, and I'll show you the Erudite quarters. I'm guessing that your Choosing Ceremony is soon, I can understand if you'd like to get to know your options a little bit better.'

'First of all,' she grabs the hand that he had begun to rise while talking and pulls it down forcefully, 'I have to choose this year, so cut it with the big boy talk. I know I'm older than you. Second, do you really think I have _doubts_ about which faction to choose? I was born Dauntless and I'll remain Dauntless until I die.'

'So, you're not interested then,' Eric's lips draw a smile, he knows her answer.

'I didn't say that,' she says loudly, 'fine... deal.'

They shake hands, and lock their eyes for a few seconds. They know they could be punished if others found out that they are messing with the system and basically ignoring the laws. However, the chance of getting to know the lifestyle of another faction before the Choosing Ceremony only shows up once in a blue moon.

'I forgive you,' Eric says boldly.

'Do you now, Eric, the Erudite?' she lets his hand go.

'Well, I believe I've gotten a fair deal,' he adopts a confident posture, 'Delta, the Dauntless.'

'Let's get you some appropriate clothes first.'

..

The weight of the Dauntless outfit is remarkable over his shoulders. It makes him walk differently, it gives him strength and a sense of belonging in an otherwise strange place where his Erudite clothes would have meant total destruction, mentally and physically.

During the following hours, Eric finds himself walking among pierced fearless people, most of them covered in tattoos and with flamboyant colourful hairstyles. Compared to the Erudite, the Dauntless are wild, rude, too touchy and naive. They walk on the edge of cliffs without a care in the world, climb rocks to reach their home, have loud music in this so-called Pit and, of course, there are no books to be seen. Nevertheless, Eric doesn't look down on them because they are not as stupid as he thought, or as careless as they seem. He realises that it's not enough with physical strength to survive in that place. You need self-esteem, a fearless brain, and a brave mentality.

'You should get going,' Delta says when the sky above the glass ceiling begins to turn black, 'or you'll miss the last train.'

'I can go back walking, I'll tell my parents that I stayed at the library,' Eric feels the need to stay there longer, to keep learning about the faction, to get to know the secrets that aren't told outside their walls.

'You should really take the train,' Delta insists with a serious face that almost makes Eric laugh.

'I can take care of myself-'

'Not really,' she interrupts him.

'Listen,' he points a finger to her face, 'you don't control me, are we clear? You don't tell me what to do.'

'Fine,' she slaps his hand away, 'like I care if you get killed.'

Eric walks ahead of her towards one of the exit tunnels, he turns around as he keeps walking backwards.

'You do,' he points at her laughing, 'something happens to me, they're gonna find out about your little trips.'

'Hush!' Delta turns him around to make him walk straight. She hears Eric laugh but doesn't look at him.

Out in the open, the train tracks are empty, the lights are off and only the loud voices of some drunk Dauntless can be heard through the walls. Eric holds his Erudite clothes and pays attention to Delta's directions towards one of her hiding spots where he can change safely. She is uncomfortable with letting him go alone at night, he's her responsibility as long as they are inside the Dauntless compound. Now they're technically out, though.

'You owe me,' she says, 'we have a deal, don't you forget about that.'

Eric looks at her almond shaped eyes. He remembers some of the movements that he's seen indoors, takes a step back, and quickly punches her face. He's surprised he's been fast enough to hit her.

'What'd you do that for?' she touches her cheek to check that there's no blood.

'I'll be waiting for you at Erudite,' Eric says walking away, 'that punch is for this,' he walks backwards again and touches his nose, 'for this,' he points at his cheek, 'and mainly for this,' his hand goes to his crotch and stays there for a while to make sure she's looking. 'It hurt, congratulations,' he says loudly.

Delta gives him the finger and walks away without saying anything else.

Eric arrives home safely, his parents have been contacted by the school and question him about the incident in class. He tells the truth about the Dauntless girl punching him, but lies about the rest of the day. As far as they know, Eric went straight to the library after class and stayed there reading, doing homework and planning impossible experiments as entertainment. When he's in his room, he thinks of the Dauntless compound, of Delta, and falls asleep planning a counterattack in case that the girl sends another fist to his face the next time they meet.

Back at the Dauntless compound, Delta sits at a table in the dining hall. She talks to a few friends, plays with her food and tosses some of it to Sid, a boy with green hair that's been teasing her all day for hanging out with an unknown guy. An older Dauntless pokes her in the shoulder and points at one of the leaders, Max, who is standing at the edge of the cliff in the first floor. The tall man indicates her to follow him, and so she does. She walks after him with half of a chocolate muffin in her hand, she's not worried because she's been called to his office before, and knows the reason why. However, she can't help but be a little bit nervous about the meeting.

When she enters the room, a blond woman is standing in there too. Her hair is perfectly combed, her fake smile is impeccable as she flashes her white teeth, and her blue dress is incredibly misplaced inside the Dauntless compound. Delta scans her up and down, and turns to Max with a questioning look. However, she knows it's not the time to make questions, but rather to answer them.

'Did you find the boy?' Max asks.

'Yeah,' Delta glances at the woman quickly before answering, 'it was easy.'

'If I check the security cameras, will I see him here?' Max is a big guy, he's nice to her most of the times, but still creepy when he is serious or wants to show off.

'Yes, sir,' Delta replies automatically, 'I showed him around.'

'What did you think of him?' the woman asks suddenly. Delta waits for a sign from Max. She doesn't like replying to strangers. The Dauntless leader nods at her.

'Well, to be honest, he's an arrogant asshole,' she blurts out, 'he thinks he can overpower the Dauntless only because he's _smart_ ,' she air-quotes _smart_ , 'but other than that, he's nice.'

'Are you sure this girl doesn't have any Candor in her blood?' the woman asks Max jokingly, 'thank you for your honesty, Delta. It's Delta, right?'

'Yeah.'

'Hey, why don't you come with me outside?' Max grabs Delta's shoulder and carries her outside closing the door behind him, 'you did a good job and followed the plan, I'll talk to you later. Go get yourself another tattoo, I'll talk to Bud and Tori again.'

'I don't want a tattoo this time, I can get myself one if I want to without your help.'

'Can you?'

Delta sighs.

'Not really,' she whispers.

'Go to the Arena and get yourself beat up a little, it has to be believable.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Delta turns around.

'And not a word to anyone, or else you'll be punished alright,' he sends her an iron stare and cracks his knuckles. 'You got me?'

Delta calls it a day and comes back to her place. Eric's footprints are still on the floor, shaped in the dirt and mud of the soles of his boots. She puts her foot besides them and stares at them wondering why that boy must get to know her faction ahead of time. Max didn't seem happy with the presence of that woman, so why hadn't he kicked her out? Delta doesn't bother to clean the floor and goes to bed directly. At least she'll get to know Erudite in return, that's a bigger privilege than getting a tattoo at her age.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, guys! The idea is that this story will be divided in three parts that take place during different times of Eric's life. Part one will cover some of his pre-initiation years; part two will cover his Dauntless initiation; and part three will deal with the different events that led to his death.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter, and thanks for reading! Opinions and comments are very much welcomed :)**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Erudite Dissatisfaction

**Chapter 2 - The Erudite Dissatisfaction  
**

It has been a few weeks since Eric had the opportunity to walk around the Dauntless area without being noticed. The Dauntless prowler, Delta, hasn't shown up yet and Eric begins to consider the possibility that she could be dead. There are cameras scattered around the city, which record image and sound of every corner at every hour of the day. He doesn't know of the Dauntless punishing practices, but he does know of their high death rate per year. It wouldn't surprise him if an immediate death sentence was carried out among their members. He is not worried about Delta, but merely curious to know about the possible consequences of breaking the law. He doesn't really care if she's dead, he got to see Dauntless first and can feel proud about it. Although not being able to tell anyone doesn't make it as exciting.

It is a stormy night of March when Eric is awakenedby the sound of the wind trying to find a way inside his room. It is almost three a.m. and it takes his eyes a few seconds to get used to the darkness of the night. Outside the big glass window, the Erudite area is pitch black and the only landscape he can distinguish is the vast barren land that extends right in front of the building where he lives, which is illuminated by a weak moonlight. Eric is checking that the window is properly closed when his ears detect a faint noise, a heavy breathing. He cautiously moves to his night table and grabs a lantern.

'Switch that thing off, switch it off.'

Delta is sitting on the floor, but it looks more like she fell on it. She covers her eyes from the light and hides her face behind her black Dauntless jacket. Eric keeps pointing at her.

'Why didn't you say anything?' he asks infuriated trying to keep a low voice, 'were you gonna be a silent creep and wait until I came back to bed?'

'Because-' she peeks over the collar, 'shit, come on, shut that thing, I can't talk like this.'

Eric lowers the lantern until it's pointing at the floor. He hears the unfolding of her clothes and the weight of her body falling sprawled on the floor.

'Keep it quiet,' Eric commands.

'I'm sorry, I'm trying not to die here,' she takes a big breath and coughs, 'I climbed all the way up here, I didn't talk be-'

'You climbed up here?' Eric is astonished.

'All fourteen floors, with a pretty nice storm included,' she sits up, 'now, excuse me while I try to breathe.'

They remain silent during a few minutes, Delta's troubled breathing getting on Eric's nerves as he sits patiently on his bed. He points at her again. Her knees are bent up and her head rests against them. Eric decides to hide the lantern beneath the sheets so that they can have a weak illumination that won't damage their eyes and catch too much attention. Delta looks up at him, her cheeks are flushed and her lips parted even though she tries hard to breathe through her nose. When she approaches, the mild lightning is enough to reveal a big scratch on her jaw that also touches her lower lip. Her left ear is obviously damaged as well and still sporting stitches.

'They caught me,' she says when she notices his stare, 'so I got a little scolding.'

'You could have come here at a decent hour,' Eric stands up.

'So. Grumpy.'

'Wait here.'

Barefoot, Eric leaves his bedroom taking care to close the door as silently as possible. He comes back a few minutes later holding a plate with a wobbly tower of four sandwiches in one hand, a transparent container with boiled chickpeas on the other, and two small bottles inside each pocket of his long pyjamas pants. He sits on the floor in front of her, his back leaning against the footboard of the bed.

'You're welcome,' he says handing her a bottle.

'Thanks.'

She drinks half of the bottle, grabs a sandwich and inspects the chickpeas.

'So you eat this just like this?' she picks one, 'not to be disrespectful but I'd rather have my muffins.'

'Well, you _are_ being disrespectful,' he eats a few at once.

Delta finishes her two sandwiches, drinks her soda and decides to eat up the rest of the chickpeas as well. Eric pushes the container closer to her, brings his knees to his chest and just watches the performance of her scratched lip, imagining how it must have bled and how much it must have hurt. He smirks. She got what she deserved for hurting him.

'Are you happy I got punished?' she tries to kill him with her stare.

'Kind of. I couldn't teach you a lesson, but someone else did.'

'Fuck off.'

Eric chuckles.

'My parents leave for work at five thirty,' he picks up the empty plate, bottles and container and places them on his desk, 'I'm sure you'll be comfortable on the floor.'

'Are you gonna go to sleep?' Delta asks cleaning her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket.

'Do you want me to dance for you?' Eric lays down on the bed and covers himself with the sheets and a blanket after switching off the lantern and placing it on the floor. 'Don't leave the room, and don't do anything stupid.'

'Don't worry, I won't,' she sighs. 'Just so you know I'm gonna sleep under your bed,' she crawls on the floor and rolls under it, 'just in case your mommy comes to kiss you goodbye in the morning,' she laughs.

'Shut up, and be quiet,' Eric's head pops upside down next to hers, 'at least I have a mother.'

'That would upset me if I hadn't heard it before,' she covers his face with the palm of her hand and pushes him away, 'sweet nightmares, ass.'

Only a few hours later, Eric kicks Delta on the shoulder to wake her up. Delta rolls out from under the bed. Eric has already showered, he's gotten dressed, and his dark blond hair is nicely combed. He's wearing a new set of Erudite clothes, a pale blue shirt with a tight blue vest and dark pants. The door to the rest of the house is open, but it's still dark because the sun has barely risen. It must be very early.

'Have a shower, and get dressed,' he tells her. Eric is already wide awake.

'Yes, sir,' Delta mumbles.

Eric steps out of his room, Delta follows him. They walk through a long white corridor illuminated by strong lights. When they enter the bathroom, Delta can smell soap and feel the humidity in the air. She appreciates that he didn't wake her up earlier. She sees a set of folded clothes by the sink. A shirt just like his, a dark blue sweater made of wool, and a pair of pants. Also dark blue.

'You can use whatever you need,' Eric says stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

Delta's clothes fall to the floor, and then the water begins to run. Eric puts his room in order, cleans the rests from last night, grabs breakfast from the fridge and leans against the window of the living room to watch the city come to life. He looks at his watch after a while and sighs, his patience being put to test again. The water stopped running a while ago, and he hopes Delta didn't take the _whatever you need_ to a next level. Eric knocks on the door harshly.

'You can come in.'

Delta is wearing a pair of glasses and looks at herself in the mirror amused. She could almost look a hundred percent Erudite if it wasn't for the scars and the stitches on her ear.

'Whose are these?' Delta asks looking at him through the glasses.

'My mother's.'

'Can I wear them today?'

'No,' Eric says firmly, 'put them back where you found them.'

Delta does as told and looks at herself in the mirror one last time before hiding her Dauntless clothes under Eric's bed and joining him in the living room. Her eyes fly all over the place jumping from shelf to shelf and from row of dozens of books to more rows of dozens of books. She takes a look at the spotless kitchen, their full fridge and glances at the rest of the house under Eric's authoritarian gaze. The air is fresh and it smells clean. On top of the kitchen counter, there's a bowl of cereals and milk, an apple and a glass of water. She eats all of it while Eric washes his own bowl and glass, then he washes hers too. Without saying a word, Eric goes to the hall, puts his shoes on, takes a jacket and points at the boots that Delta can use. Delta can't bare the silence, she whistles, hums, and talks to herself while they take the stairs instead of the elevator. Eric doesn't want anyone to see her in the building.

'I bet you can't catch me,' Delta says right before skipping three steps and landing on the next floor. She keeps running without looking back and grins from ear to ear when she hears Eric's shoes racing after her. When they reach the bottom floor, Eric pushes her. He is exhausted.

'You can't do that here,' he tells her off.

'But it was fun, wasn't it?' Delta smiles.

'I was trying to stop you,' Eric puts his jacket on, which hides the pale blue shirt. He's entirely covered in blue. 'Come on.'

They step out on the cold morning of March. The sun isn't up yet to warm their skin, and the ashes of the storm have left freezing breezes of air, especially when they cross the streets. They walk next to each other as if they had a destination, but they truly have none. With clean combed hair, Delta's face is on display. She's learnt to look like an Erudite rather quick, which makes Eric wonder during how long she's been sneaking into his faction, or the other ones. She's serious, and almost looks like she's thinking deeply about some scientific research. Almost.

'You threw a good punch the last time I saw you. It almost hurt me,' Delta tells him eager to start a conversation.

'Thank you,' Eric says politely, although the folds of skin on one side of his mouth reveal his pride.

'Was it your first?' she says with fake flirtation.

'It was,' Eric looks at her with a cold sharp nod.

'I'm honoured.'

He rolls his eyes, but this time he shows his teeth in the first true smile she's ever seen appear in his face. Delta has won one of her own personal challenges: to make the grumpy Erudite laugh. Or smile. That counts as well. She can't stand it when people are too serious, too silent, or too bitter, and Eric seems to be all those three at the same time.

After a long walk around the neighbourhood, their tired feet guide them to what used to be a park and they sit on a bench to watch people pass by. The dry grass on the ground is thick and abundant, like it could be hiding its own bug civilisation inside. However, they both know it's dead, and that nothings grows or lives in it. Eric squashes a bunch of grass with his feet until he can see the rotten soil beneath it. Delta does the same thing, and then they connect their two cleared areas with a straight line.

'What do you do for fun?' Delta asks almost in a whisper.

'I go to the library, or sit at the computer.'

'Hm,' Delta does a little hop while sitting, and repositions herself, one leg over the other, her elbows resting on them. She's bored.

Eric can see the shape of her shoulders and back, how her torso stands firm and strong even though she's supposed to be resting. She barely got tired when running downstairs, she climbed fourteen floors, she slept a few hours but still is in better condition than he is. An old man sits on a bench close to theirs. Eric looks at him in shame and disgust. That man can still exercise his mind, but not his body, not anymore. He had a chance when he was young, but didn't take it. It is not allowed to run around in Erudite, to jump, to climb, to push each other, to fight. Eric looks at his own arms, and at his thighs pressed against the bench. He feels sorry for them. He feels sorry for his own body, for not using it now that he can, for not testing how far it can go, how far it can take him.

Delta's supporting her face on the knuckles of her left hand. The skin of her neck has goosebumps, her leg is shaking every now and then. She licks her lips. She's cold.

'We should move,' Eric gets on his feet taking one last look at the old man sitting on the bench. Delta looks at him too.

'He wouldn't be alive in Dauntless,' she says standing up next to Eric. Suddenly, they belong to the same team, the team of the young united against the passing of time. Delta looks at Eric, who also turns to her. 'I guess we're lucky to be young,' she tells him.

'We are.'

Delta hides her hands in the pockets of her pants as they walk. Her fingers are numb with cold, her knuckles are red and cracked, both from fighting and from the harsh winter that they've been through at the Pit. Eric sees her narrowed eyelids protecting her eyes against the cold wind, her arms completely stuck to her body, her lips dry. He only gave her a shirt and a sweater. He figured she would be strong enough to stand the cold, but it turns out that not even the Dauntless can fight nature. What if it's not in his nature to be an Erudite? How would he fight that? Would he even want to fight it? He takes a right turn in the next street, and then right again. They are coming back to where they started. When Delta recognises the building in front of her, she frowns. An old small sign with the name of the building in it hangs from one of the columns. Delta guesses that it probably said Brain Communications Building in the past. That's where Eric lives. She frowns once again.

'We're not going back home,' Eric says before she can ask.

They enter the building and take the stairs once again, but when Eric reaches the fourteenth floor, he keeps ascending. They are halfway up, Eric's pace slows down, he uses the handrails to help his legs survive the ride. Delta walks ahead of him, looking back when she has reached the next floor, waiting for him. When Eric reaches the last step, she pulls from his arm.

'Come on, big guy,' she says laughing, 'don't die on me now.'

Eric breathes. His cheeks are red and his knees shaky. He sits down in the middle of the next flight of stairs. Delta holds his hands and pulls from him to make him stand. She almost falls by the impulse, they both laugh.

'Come on!' Delta says loudly, 'move your big Erudite ass!'

'Be quiet!' Eric whispers.

After a few more stops, they manage to arrive to the last floor. Floor forty-first. It looks like no one lives so high up, but Eric walks through the corridors like he has done itbefore and knows the planning of the building by heart. He opens a small white metal door that leads to a tiny metallic room with spiral stairs in the corner. They climb eight more floors of those tiny rooms, which keep gradually diminishing in size with every floor. The last room is surrounded by glass, including the ceiling, which is shaped like a pyramid. Delta runs to the window and sticks her face to the glass contemplating the landscape of the city of Chicago, and especially, the Erudite area. In the distance, she can distinguish the black towers of The Hub. It looks small from the forty-ninth floor of Eric's building. Insignificant. Eric feels the edges of a tiny window in the corner, he tries to open it but the strong winds close it again. Delta helps him, they open it, and she goes first.

The wind shakes their bodies as if they were no heavier than a feather. They hold onto the metal railings that go all along the edge of the building and climb up. Delta turns around to check on Eric every few seconds. He looks down but doesn't seem to be bothered by the height. Delta isn't either. They reach the top of the pyramid-shaped roof and sit inside a small space in-between the two convergent railings, protected from violent air currents and with a structure to hold onto.

'This is awesome,' Delta says relaxing her back against the metal planks behind them.

Eric tries to find a more comfortable position and decides to imitate Delta, sitting close to her because of the limited space they have. Delta hides her hands inside the sleeves of the sweater, Eric brings his legs to his chest and hides his arms in-between them. He looks at her and remembers the stroke of ink.

'Do your tattoos have a meaning?' he asks.

'It's people I've met, places I've been to, things that have happened,' she shrugs, 'they have a meaning to me.'

'Can I see the one on your wrist?' he points at it.

Delta rolls up her sleeve. The tattoo is simple. It's two concentric circles with a straight line from the center that crosses both circles and exits them.

'It's my mom, my father, and I,' she lets him check it for a few seconds, then covers her wrist again. Her mood darkens, she becomes silent and merely observes the city. Eric does the same. He finds the cubic grey buildings of the library, and the glass-dome next to them, the place where he met Delta the second time.

'Will I be a tattoo on your skin as well?' he asks with a smirk.

'You wish,' Delta chuckles.

They come back inside when the wind becomes too strong and they can barely hear each other. After they close the window behind them, silence reigns again, it's warm and calm. Eric combs his hair with his hands, Delta does the same and together they walk downstairs again. They have lunch inside of Eric's room, sitting in front of the computer. Eric shows her the things Erudite children learn at school, maps of the city, the Erudite Manifesto, and also some books with information about the different Factions that he has found in the library. They laugh at Abnegation, and mock Amity.

'It would be interesting to go and see these ones as well,' Eric closes the book.

Delta stands up and stretches her knees, she bites her lower bit containing a smile and nods at him. Eric nods as well.

'So we have another deal?' Eric extends his hand.

'We do,' Delta shakes it, 'but you gotta find your own clothes, huh?'

'Of cour-'

The door opens wide and a woman stands outside. She's blond, like Eric. The woman looks at Delta, at the book that Eric's holding and at Eric's old homework on his desk. She waves at Delta and walks over to shake her hand.

'Hi, I'm Anne, Eric's mom,' she looks at Eric, 'I'm sorry, I didn't know you had friends over. Your aunt's here, we're gonna have something to eat.'

A voice talks from the hall.

'I'm coming, sister,' steps approach, 'where's my nephew?'

Delta's hearing overpowers the other senses as she tries to recognise the sound of that familiar voice. She looks at Eric's mother once again, at her dark eyebrows and her condescending bright grey eyes. Delta gives a step back unconsciously. Eric's aunt appears at the other side of the open door. That woman. That Erudite woman that questioned her about Eric. They look at each other, but the woman quickly turns her eyes to Eric, approaches him and kisses his cheek.

'How are you, nephew?' she asks sounding way friendlier than she had back at Dauntless, 'is this a new friend?' she turns to Delta.

'This is Danielle,' Eric introduces them before Delta can open her mouth.

'Danielle,' she extends her hand, 'beautiful name, my dear.'

Delta shakes her hand and manages to pronounce a _thank you_ right before the woman lets her hand go.

'Well, we'll leave you two alone,' Eric's mother exits the room followed by her sister, 'nice to meet you, Danielle.'

'Yeah, nice to meet you too,' Delta replies.

When the door is closed, Delta crosses her arms over her chest and sends a questioning stare to Eric.

'What's your aunt's job?' she asks immediately.

'She's the leader of the Erudite,' Eric replies proud and sound.

Delta nods repeatedly and looks out the window so at least her brain will have a hint of freedom now that her body feels enclosed with walls. She's about to begin vomiting words when she remembers Max's face and the words that came out of his mouth. Not a word to anyone. But does Eric count as anyone? Delta knows what kind of punishment she would suffer. It's not worth it.

'So, where do we go first?' Delta turns to him with a fake renewed energy.

'Amity, it's the safest,' Eric turns to the map of the city again, 'they won't give us much trouble.'

'Okay,' Delta doesn't sound convinced.

'What?'

'I would be a little bit more daring, like going to Candor, but it's okay. I can adapt. Amity it is.'

'Yes, Amity it is,' Eric folds the map in two loudly to reinforce his statement. He knows he is the smartest out of the two, so he should decide.

It is not until Eric's aunt has left that Delta informs Eric about her plans to leave the Erudite quarters for the day. She doesn't want to stumble upon that woman again, especially not in her own territory. Eric and Delta walk towards the city center, not bothering to look at the names of the streets, since Eric knows them too well and Delta uses The Hub as her point of reference. Once outside the Erudite quarters, Delta steps into the bathrooms of a library and changes her clothes. Wearing her Dauntless outfit, Delta feels more comfortable, and she runs towards the railway when she hears the train approach. Eric sees her disappear among the other Dauntless people. She knows some of them, they wave hands and hit each other with their elbows playfully. Meanwhile, he, Eric, the Erudite boy, analyses the situation with longing eyes and a hint of jealousy. If only he could come back running to Erudite, or jump in the train with them. If only he could put all the young energy he has inside to use.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Amity Mitigation

**Chapter 3 - The Amity Mitigation  
**

During the following days, Delta searches for Eric at the cafeteria of the Upper Levels School to plan their Amity outing, but always fails to encounter him. The Erudite students don't mention his name, although they do talk about the rooms they use. Delta steals a timetable from the backpack of an Erudite girl that's around Eric's age, and the next day, at lunch time, she goes to the room where they had their last lesson. Delta looks through the doors of the corridor until she sees Eric sitting alone at a desk full of papers.

'Why did it take so long for you to find me?' Eric asks without looking at her. The sound of the door being opened had been short and harsh, like someone hadn't bothered to turn the handle completely before opening. It had to be Delta.

'Because I'm stupid?' Delta replies.

'That's the correct answer,' Eric puts the pencil down and looks at her. Even though they go to the same school, they had never seen each other inside the building before.

'So you do come to school.'

'Of course I do,' Delta sits on the desk next to his.

'That's unexpected,' Eric leans back on his chair and crosses his arms.

Delta tosses a piece of her sandwich bread to his face.

'Cut it already, Mr. Know-it-all,' she exclaims, 'we have to make our little trip. Next weekend?'

'No planning?' Eric sits up straight.

'What for? Taking a train and walking towards the farms?' Delta stands next to his desk and glances at his homework, "is that information they're giving you even useful?'

'Every piece of information is useful,' Eric closes his notebook roughly, 'next weekend is fine. Staying overnight?'

'Why not? It'll be fun,' she nods, 'let's say Saturday at Sable Bridge... 4 a.m.?'

Eric rises his eyebrows in surprise. Delta turned out to be smart enough to make a simple plan.

'Okay. I'll see you there.'

On Friday night, Eric hides the Amity clothes that he had stolen from school in one of his backpacks. He has told his parents that he will be spending the weekend doing school research with some of his fellow Erudites. They don't question his words because he never gave them a reason not to trust him. While he prepares the bag, he feels a burst of happiness waiting to explode inside his chest, he wants to run, jump and scream, and he probably will get to do that as soon as he leaves the Erudite quarters and joins Delta by the bridge. It's the first time that he is gonna go so far away from his home, so far away from the city. He'll be completely free during the trip, no one controlling him, no rules to follow, no conventions to live up to. He will be able to explore a new area, to experience new things, and he won't be doing it alone. Delta will be there as well, also breaking the rules. It doesn't feel like what he's doing is wrong if another person does it as well.

He steps out of the building at night, when all the lights are off and the streets are completely empty. He has never felt the chill of the night in Chicago because he has never been allowed to be out so late. Walking through the empty streets, Eric arrives to Sable Bridge exactly at 3.59 a.m. The first train of the morning will be there in a minute. Delta is not there yet, but he is not worried. She wouldn't miss that trip.

The sound of electricity running through the railway warns him about the approaching train. In the middle of the night, the lights of the train look like fireflies travelling in groups along the street. Eric looks at the first car and sees Delta, her head sticking out of the door. Eric smiles when he realises that he's not scared of jumping towards the train anymore. He knows he'll make it, he knows that his arms will be strong enough and that his legs will propel him far enough.

He stands by the edge of the platform watching Delta's face approach, focusing on the handle of the door. When the train passes by, he only has to extend his arm and hold onto the handle to become a part of the current of air that the train leaves behind. As the wind blows against his face, he moves his legs towards the inside of the car and jumps in smoothly, silently.

Delta greets him with a nod, the feeling of anticipation shining through her fearless eyes. She's wearing her Dauntless clothes, her short uncombed hair tucked behind her ears unevenly. Eric remembers her in the Erudite outfit and understands how ridiculous she must have looked to her Dauntless eyes.

'Good to see you,' he says tossing his backpack next to hers under the empty seats of the train. There's no one else in the other cars, no one ever takes the first train of the morning that goes towards the fence.

'Good to see you too,' she nods once again, 'are you ready for our _illegal_ excursion?' she looks at him directly in the eye. She realises that his eyes are brighter than usual, like there's a light shining in the inside, and he looks happy. The rest of his face is serious, cold and hard as stone, but Delta now knows that he's smiling inside. He's just extremely good at hiding it.

'Why wouldn't I be?' he loosens up the last button of his shirt.

'Because you're an Erudite,' she teases him.

'I'm Eric,' he takes his jacket off, 'only Eric right now.'

Delta gives a step back showing the palms of her hands with a surprised face.

'Oh, okay,' she chuckles, 'watch out for Eric.'

Eric ignores her and leans against the open door of the train, but he doesn't look outside. His eyes are stuck on the metal floor of the car, his face is relaxed but Delta can distinguish a hint of sadness in the way in which he slightly folds his eyebrows and purses his lips. She leaves him alone to his thoughts and leans against the opposite door.

They see the sun rise over the city of Chicago, each of them lost in their own thoughts, silent. The fence can be seen at the distance, also the first farming lands, but they're still empty. Small shadows walk up and down the fence. Dauntless. Delta follows their movements and turns around to see them through the other side of the train. Eric is still thoughtful. The sun reflects on his blond hair creating brighter shades and also shadows. Delta joins him at the door and points at the other Dauntless patrolling the fence. Eric looks at them.

'Dauntless?' he asks knowing the answer.

'Of course,' Delta says without taking her eyes off the fence.

'Of course,' he mumbles with a lower voice.

The arrogant Erudite is also a young boy full of questions without an answer, and in spite of his nature, he's probably full of doubts as well. Every teenager is. Delta is as well. She hits his arm with her elbow.

'Hey, cheer up,' she tells him, 'don't ruin this trip.'

'I'm okay,' he straightens his back and frowns.

'Yeah,' Delta says unconvinced.

She hits him again, this time harder. Eric looses his balance but manages to shift the weight of his body and stumbles into the inside of the train. He shows his teeth with a malicious smile and tries to push Delta out of the car. Delta stands strong on her Dauntless boots and charges against him knocking him to the floor. He lays on his back, his head sticking out of the train, the world turning upside down in front of his eyes. He stays like that, watching the sky become the ground and the grass turn into clouds. Delta imitates him and lays on her back next to him. She laughs when the Dauntless patrol hangs from the fence like bats swinging their wings in a cave.

Eric sits up after a while and observes Delta, who is still amazed at the inverted world they just created. She extends her arms out and lets them fly in the wind. Her body slides down the metallic floor slowly without her noticing, but Eric does. A curve in the railway moves her body, she tries to reach for the handles but they're too far. Eric holds her leg and pulls her back into position without trouble. She continues with her upturned watch.

'Your brain's gonna drown in blood,' he says looking at her long neck.

Delta sits up. Her face is red, her hair even messier than in the morning. She pats her hair with the palms of her hands trying to flatten it down again.

'It matches your personality much better,' Eric rests his head against the wall with a smothered laugh.

'What do you know about my personality...' she sits in front of him.

'Enough,' he closes his eyes when the sun blinds them.

They jump off the train in the middle of a tall bluestem field. The grass is almost as tall as them, so they only need to crouch down a little to become completely invisible. The sun is up already, the wind has died out and everything stands still and silent. For a minute or two, they don't move and wait until the sound of the train has disappeared in the distance.

Slowly, Eric approaches Delta, the dry grass cracking under his weight. Eric points at her backpack. Delta nods. They undress, their eyes paying more attention to the fence patrol than to each other's bodies.

Eric puts on a pair of bright brown pants, a green shirt and a brown vest. It's comfortable because it's loose, but he doesn't trust the strength of the fabric in case they have to jump or get into a fight. However, it's Amity. The only person who would get into a fight with him there is Delta. He looks at her. She has a pair of dark green pants and is putting on a yellow shirt with long sleeves. He sees her stomach before the fabric covers it and distinguishes a big purple bruise on her side. She puts on a brown vest as well, and hides her Dauntless clothes in the backpack.

'Are you ready?' Delta asks him.

Eric nods with a frown. He draws his eyes away from her and begins to walk towards the fence, although his mind is still thinking about that bruise. He's never been hit like that, he doesn't know how it feels like, how much it hurts. He imagines Delta fighting in the stone tunnels of the Dauntless compound. He wonders who attacked her, how, and why. Perhaps it was just a part of a game, or perhaps someone really wanted to hurt her. Or both. When he looks at her again, Eric feels anger. He wants to know the reason to everything, including the reason to why that bruise appeared on her skin.

'Did you get into a fight?' he asks glancing at her side.

'Yeah,' Delta says feeling the wounded area with her hand, 'with an initiate. I told him I could take him.'

'Did you?' Eric keeps walking ahead. If he was a cat, his ears would be pointing at Delta.

'No. He beat me alright.'

Delta runs past Eric and looks back at him with narrowed eyes. Her dark hair stands out among the dry bluestem grass, her pale skin almost getting lost in the contrast, her Amity clothes merging with the setting. The competition in her eyes seems almost flirty to Eric, or perhaps that's just how attracted he feels towards being competitive in general, towards being smarter, stronger, better, or simply, the best. That's what he strives for, and so does she. Although she doesn't care about the being intelligent part.

The gate that leads outside the fence is watched by a Dauntless patrol, and only Amity trucks are allowed in and out. Delta and Eric observe them from a safe distance hiding in the tall grass field. Delta sighs in frustration. Eric's jaw is tense, his eyes fixed on the Dauntless woman that checks the food trucks. He looks at his clothes, and at Delta's. They _are_ Amity at that moment, young Amity pre-initiates. Eric runs his fingers through his dark blond hair to make it look as Amity-messy as possible. Delta doesn't need any styling.

When they emerge out of the grass, the two Dauntless guards that perch on the fence aim at them immediately. Eric and Delta pretend to be scared, and raise their hands. The guards look at their clothing, their messy hair, and flushed cheeks. The two men look at each other with a smirk, but keep aiming at the two _Amity_ youngsters.

'What are you two doing here?' one of them asks.

'We, ah-' Delta brings out the best of her stammering performances, 'spent the night out,' she blurts out.

'Doing research for school,' Eric adds avoiding to look at them directly in the eye on purpose, pretending to be weak by staring at the ground instead.

The guards laugh adopting a relaxed position, lowering their weapons and shaking their heads. The tallest one points at the other side of the gate with the rifle.

'Don't do this again, huh? Find some other place to _do research_ next time, you got me?' he tries to intimidate them.

Eric and Delta cringe at the intonation used by the guard when he mentions their inexistent research, but it turns out that the Dauntless man has created a better excuse than theirs. Delta tries hard not to laugh, so she keeps her head down, facing the ground.

'Yes, sir,' Eric replies with a submissive voice , 'it won't happen again.'

To follow the Dauntless guard's imagination, Eric grabs Delta's hand and runs towards the outside of the fence as if they were scared of the guards, or scared of being caught. But he isn't. He can feel the excitement of defying the rules, of lying to the Dauntless, and getting away with their plan. As soon as they turn their backs to the guards, Eric begins to smile first, and then to laugh. Delta pulls from his hand to make him shut up, but she ends up laughing too. They run away from the farms and move towards the cluster of trees that hide the first Amity buildings.

The trees are tall and most of them are covered in dark green leaves. Delta drops Eric's hand driven by her curiosity when they see the first building, tall and rounded, like a wooden dome made of curved beams and glass panels in between them. She's never seen Amity, or their buildings, and they are more interesting than she ever thought they could be.

Walking behind her, Eric pretends to rub at the dry grass on his pants, but the sensation of Delta's fingers entwined with his is still there. He doesn't mind it, but it distracts him because it makes him aware of all the nerve ends at the tip of his fingers and in the middle of his palm. The last person he has held hands with is his mother, when he was seven or eight years old.

' _Do research_ ,' Delta imitates the guard, 'perv...' she says to herself.

'I would simply call it a Dauntless mind,' Eric catches up with her.

'Right,' Delta snorts, 'I'm not gonna comment on that.'

'Because you know it's true,' Eric keeps looking ahead, observing the architecture of the buildings, tracing maps in his head.

'I'm not gonna fight you,' Delta says sounding like she's trying to convince herself, 'we're Amity now, so no fighting. We gotta adapt.'

'Ha! You, Amity?' he shakes his head, 'I don't think so.'

'I can sing for you,' Delta hops her way towards the open space where the central building stands. She moves her arms from side to side, and stops with a jump. 'You see? I'm committed.'

Eric stops to contemplate the landscape in front of him. The dome structure standing in the center of the green grass field is built around a magnificent tree with thick long branches that reach up to the sky like the fingers of a hand attempting to touch the sun. Delta, however, doesn't pay attention to the building, or the people inside. Her eyes travel from tree to tree like those of a squirrel looking for the perfect trunk to climb. She then sees a swing suspended by ropes and her eyes shine anew.

'We should go separate ways,' Eric tells her, 'clearly, we have different interests.'

'Oh,' Delta is crestfallen for a second, but then she shrugs, 'sure, if that's what you want.'

'Yes, it is,' Eric smiles dryly and walks away towards the central building without turning back.

Delta watches him go, his steps heavy with the weight of arrogance and superiority complex. She's never liked to be left alone, she's repelled by the idea of not having someone to talk to or to share experiences with, and that's why her Dauntless instinct guides her to a group of Amity teens that sit by the edge of a destroyed bridge and sing songs together. Delta, of course, is only attracted by the height of the bridge, and the idea of jumping from it.

Inside the central building, Eric acts confident when elderly eyes turn to him as he enters the place. A few early birds sit at the wooden tables surrounding the great tree and eat their breakfast amidst friendly conversations and constant laughter. Eric is somewhat repulsed by the never-ending happiness, the continuous use of kind words, and the cheerful expressions of absolutely everyone surrounding him. He doesn't believe they are all as happy as they seem, and for once, he begins to understand the hostility that the Candor have always shown towards Amity. It is quite obvious that such a happy society can't possibly exist, and therefore they must be lying, or high, one of the two.

Eric steps out of the building and examines his surroundings, classifying them in his brain, prioritising potential sources of knowledge, devaluing what he deems as unavailing locations. He breathes in the fresh air from outside the fence and quickly glances at Delta up the broken bridge. She's practically pushing the Amity teens down the bridge to make them jump, face their fears. Eric rolls his eyes at the Dauntless girl, and then begins his own journey in search for Amity knowledge.

During the day, Eric engages in conversations with adults pretending to be an unusually curious Amity teenager with thirst for knowledge about his faction. He poses as an Amity initiate when he overhears a group of transfers talk about their own initiation. He wants to know what is required to become a member of Amity, what their tests are, what their skills must be like. He has lunch with them, lies about his life, his parents, his friends, and also tones it down with his Erudite knowledge. Eric finds it irritating to talk to them and not to be able to correct them, or to tell them how stupid they are for not knowing the facts that he knows by heart. Eric sighs and excuses himself for a second, but he never comes back to the ignorant transfers table.

Outside, the broken bridge is empty. He frowns and purses his lips. Not knowing, that's what he hates the most, including not knowing where people are when he needs them. His jaw tenses. He had thought that the time in Amity would be interesting, constructive, or fun, but it hasn't been any of that. He has gained knowledge about the faction, its history, its people and their way of living, but somehow it's not enough, and that angers him. Perhaps he is just as grumpy as Delta says he is, perhaps he's not happy.

Eric strolls around the forest until he distinguishes the farms. He finds a nice spot to sit on right at the top of a small hill. From there, he can see the central building of the faction, and the big tree that's shaped as a hand. The sun is setting, the sky being coloured with blue,pink, and golden shades that slowly give way to the night. He realises how much he likes to stand above all things, to be able to watch and control from a high position.

'Bored?' Delta has sneaked behind him silently. She sits next to him, 'I _borrowed_ some bread,' she takes a loaf of bread out of her backpack and gives it to him, 'I put some in the backpack, in case we get hungry at night.'

'At night,' Eric repeats sullenly, 'right.'

'You forgot we're sleeping here?' Delta breaks a piece of bread and bites it.

'Yes, actually I had forgotten,' he looks at her.

'I talked a boy into letting us stay in an outdoors room that his family doesn't use,' she says casually, 'I figured you'd be too busy to find _shelter_ ,' she smirks, 'so, did you find something interesting?'

'I did,' he says looking away, 'but it's not important, or fun.'

'Oh,' Delta talks with food in her mouth, 'that's a shame.'

Eric laughs.

'Nah, it's not,' he doubts for a second, 'do you wanna know something about their bread?'

Delta nods.

'They put a serum in it, to make people happy,' he whispers.

Delta shakes her head in disbelief.

'So I'm gonna get high 'cus I've eaten so much of this,' she laughs.

When the night comes, Delta guides Eric to the small storage room that the Amity boy showed her early in the morning. They sleep on improvised mattresses made of bales of hay. They can see the stars out of the window. Eric recites their names in his head, Delta imagines how it would be like to travel in space.

During the following day, Eric realises that Delta has learnt much more about the Amity lifestyle than he has. They stroll around the area, climb trees, play hide-and-seek with a few Amity teens, but tackle the others when they are about to be caught. The games end quickly and they both run away before they're punished. At night, they talk about their choices, fantasize about visiting Candor, and Delta tells Eric almost everything he wants to know about Dauntless, because Max told her to.

While she talks to him, Delta traces the lines of his face hoping that they will reveal the reason why that Erudite boy is somehow special, but she doesn't find any. His eyes are a tunnel to his intellect, and Delta can easily see that he's too smart to be Dauntless yet too aggressive to be Erudite.

..

Delta tells Max about Eric's traits on Monday morning, when she's back at Dauntless. Max is not happy about it, though Delta doesn't know why. She continues to express her doubts about being a faction traitor for showing the Dauntless compound to an Erudite, and for sharing with him the little information that she knows about the Dauntless initiation. Max stares at her gravely.

'Who gave you these orders?' he asks her inside his office.

'You, sir.'

'Then, are you calling _me_ a faction traitor?' Max points his index finger at her face.

'No, sir,' Delta shakes her head hurriedly.

'I thought so,' Max is nervous. His voice is steady but his eyes fly all over the room, 'get the boy to Candor, and also to see the Stiffs. I'll make sure you get through safely,' he says doubting, 'this is important,' he nods, 'for the future of Dauntless, and of this society.'

'But, what does Erudite have to do with us?' Delta seals her lips after talking.

'They have the brains,' Max talks to the walls, and Delta is not sure that she is the addressee of his words anymore. The Dauntless leader seems to be talking to himself, to be convincing himself instead of Delta, 'they are intelligent, they know what this society needs... and doesn't need,' he finally looks at her, somewhat confused, 'get the hell out of here, and do as I tell you.'

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you so much for reading! :)**

 **Also, thanks to my new beta reader, Electric Blue Reader!**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Candor Liability

**Chapter 4 - The Candor Liability**

Eric stands in front of the Candor headquarters, the Merciless Mart. The building looks huge up close and Delta stops to contemplate it for a while before continuing her walk. With her eyes, she follows the shadows that calmly stroll up and down the many dark windows that decorate the huge grey walls of the building. Eric, the Erudite boy stands at the top of the staircase that leads to the main entrance of the Candor colossal structure. Eric wears a white shirt and black jeans. Delta notices that he's grown taller since the last time she saw him, and he also seems a little more muscular, stronger.

Delta saunters up to him. Eric wanted to prove that he could get into Candor by himself, and he has done so without trouble. Delta sighs. The situation is ironic to her. Eric lifts his chin and keeps staring at her.

'I told you I could do it,' he says with pride.

'Yeah, I'm impressed,' Delta keeps her head low, her voice is tired.

Eric hits her with his elbow as to wake her up. The Dauntless girl glares at him.

'You've been training or what?' she asks still feeling the burn of his hit on her side.

'Yes,' he replies shameless, 'I thought I might want to be ready in case you decide to fight me again.'

Delta turns to him, the side of her mouth curling up in an evil smile. She eyes him up and down.

'So, you've been training because of me?' she tries to embarrass him, 'because you want to be Dauntless?' Delta mocks him with a funny intonation.

'What I want to be doesn't matter,' he straightens his back, 'what matters is what I am already, what I was born.'

'Don't lie,' she rolls her eyes, 'of course it matters to you, it matters to everyone. Otherwise people wouldn't be scared of the Aptitude Test, or of getting a faction they don't want,' she starts downstairs towards the street.

'Are you scared of the test?' Eric asks.

'Of course not. I'm Dauntless, and I'll get Dauntless.'

'What if you don't'?' he teases her.

'I will.'

Delta checks the time. They have a long day ahead and she's not sure she'll be capable of dealing with Eric. Max's instructions were clear when she talked to him before leaving Dauntless in the morning. The Dauntless leader has given her a time, a place and three numbers. The place is a Candor building where an acquaintance of Max's works; the first number is the password to the room where they keep some samples of their truth serum; the second number, the amount of serum that she has to put into Eric's bloodstream; the third, the amount that she has to put into hers. Delta clenches her fists until her knuckles crack. She hopes that the reward will be a good one this time. She's heard from Candor transfers that the truth serum can be pretty painful if one tries to lie. The harder you try not to tell the truth, the more painful it becomes. Delta shakes her head.

'Are you a big lier?' Eric glances at her face.

Delta nods. She wishes she could roll her sleeves up because of the heat, but her tattoos would reveal her true nature, so they must remain hidden under the white fabric of her shirt.

'How am I supposed to trust you, then?' Eric turns to her, but he doesn't sound serious about the question.

'Well, you don't have to,' Delta responds plainly.

Eric snorts before sitting on the pavement by what used to be a river, his feet hanging down the cement of the waterway. At the other side of the dry river channel, Eric can see Erudite, its buildings and the blue spots that hurry up and down the streets. He's been exactly at the opposite side a few times, observing Candor, reflecting upon the fact that it is only that old barren space that separates the two factions, that his father came from Candor, and that he might have some of that faction still left in his blood as well. Eric would hate to go to Candor. He knows he would.

Delta stands next to him, looking at the top of the buildings, as usual, seemingly careless about her Aptitude Test, about her fate, which will be decided not too long from that day.

'Were your parents Dauntless-born as well?'

'Yeah,' she kicks a rock, 'and my grandparents, and their parents before them,' she recites funnily, 'it's common in Dauntless,' she looks down at him, 'yours?'

'My father was a transfer from Candor,' he says through gritted teeth, 'my mother's born in Erudite.'

'Candor, huh?' Delta laughs, 'that explains a lot.'

'What do you mean by that?' Eric stands up to confront her.

'Well, you don't have any problems speaking your mind,' she laughs again, 'you've insulted me quite many times, but maybe it's just your personality, maybe you're just an asshole and that's it,' she turns to him, her arms resting on the metal railing, 'or maybe you're so brave you dare to speak your mind honestly,' she kicks another rock, 'or maybe you're... Dauntless!' she chuckles and shakes her head.

'You can be quite an asshole too,' he tells her, their shoulders brushing against each other's when they both begin to kick more stones and watch them fall to the empty riverbed.

Delta laughs, and presses her arms against the metal railing to lift her feet in the air. She bites her lips, her eyes travelling down the empty course of river towards what used to be a lake. Eric realises that her brain is in a constant search for danger, for obstacles to challenge herself, to prove herself. Eric wonders what she is thinking staring at that big mushy place, what her Dauntless eyes see.

'Are you interested in what my _stupid_ brain thinks now?' Delta narrows her lids and smiles.

'I am,' he sends a dry smile back, his eyes flickering with direct sunlight. Delta is never sure of what his smile means, but she replies anyways.

'I'm just imagining how it looked like when it was a lake,' she lifts her body in the air again, 'what lived in it, like monsters or something... I don't know.'

'Monsters,' Eric's lower lip sticks out as his eyebrows rise. Then he laughs, 'the only monster in that place is that old rusty ship.'

'Wanna go there one day?' Delta searches for the ship but the tall Candor buildings hide it. Eric doubts.

'One day,' he nods.

Eric bends his neck slowly until he can see her. He follows the lines of her neck up towards her face, but forces himself to look away. He's never had a friend from another faction, he didn't think it was possible, or useful, until now. Eric laughs to himself because he doesn't even know if Delta is his friend. She surely knows more things about him than other Erudite students. No one in Erudite knows that his father was Candor. None of his classmates, that is. For some reason, he's ashamed of it, of not being a full Erudite, of not being _pure_ in some way. The thought of it makes him angry, and he bites his teeth. He can't change what's in his blood. Perhaps that's why he's so resentful of his father and his father's family, and why he's always felt more inclined towards his mother and his aunt. They both have a high intelligence quotient; his aunt has the highest in Erudite, and he could have been the same if it wasn't for his dad, his _Candor_ dad. His blood is tainted. Eric's hands clench into a fist as he sighs.

'What is it?' Delta looks at him when they begin to walk.

'I'm just-... angry.'

'Why?'

'That is none of your business,' he snaps.

Delta rolls her eyes. For a few seconds, she's forgotten that he's an arrogant Erudite, but a quick glance at his perfectly combed hair reminds her of his faction. At least it's clear that he's not a Stiff; Delta is sure that he spends lots of time in front of the mirror. She shakes her head and lets out a big breath of air.

'Listen,' Eric interrupts his step abruptly, 'if you're gonna have that attitude, you better get out of here and leave me alone.'

'What attitude?' Delta says loudly, 'you're the one with the attitude, you little spoiled brat.'

Delta gets ready to slap his hand away in case he's gonna try to grab her by the neck again, but he doesn't. If she could only tell him that he's just as stupid as her for not realising that he's being used; that she, Delta, a brainless Dauntless, is lying to him on his face... but she can't, and that infuriates her.

'You know what?' she tells him, 'I _am_ getting out of here. Fuck you, Eric, and fuck Erudite, and fuck Candor and all fucking fuck-tions.'

If there would have been a door, Delta would have slammed it on his face. She stomps off the Merciless Mart square pulling up her sleeves and unbuttoning the upper part of the white shirt with a disgusted look in her face. Eric goggles at the amount of new tattoos that cover the skin of Delta's arms. Some of them are still protected with plastic bandage, but some others look like they've already healed nicely. There's no colour in them though. They're all black.

'Yeah, I'm Dauntless, whatever,' Delta tells to a group of Candor people that turn their eyes to her.

'We're gonna call security,' they reply trying to sound threatening.

'I said _whatever_ ,' she gives them the finger and keeps walking away.

Eric watches the scene as if he was sitting in front of a screen. It doesn't take long for two Candor security guards to approach Delta and pull her arms behind her back. Delta puts up no resistance to being taken away. She could easily kick the back of the guards' knees, make them fall, and run away. They wouldn't catch her because she's quick. However, she doesn't do anything and lets them push her around like a puppet. Eric feels the frustration of being a watcher with no power to intervene knowing that Delta is not smart enough to get herself out of that situation without big consequences.

'You're coming with me too,' a Candor guard holds Eric's arms with such pressure that it makes Eric wince, 'the girl says you're Erudite, is that the truth?'

'Yes,' Eric replies immediately hoping that the man will release some pressure, 'yes, it is.'

'You'll be in detention until someone from your faction comes to pick you up.'

Eric and Delta are driven north along Wells Street. After a turn to the right, the car stops at the parking control of a tall, white building that looks like the result of a random collision and following fusion of at least four or five giant cubic structures. During the few minutes that they spend waiting at the control, Eric observes the architecture of the building through the window of the car. He reaches to read the word _Frey_ right at the very top of the building, and he adds the location to the map of the city that he's been tracing inside his mind. He glances at Delta. She's ignoring the outside world and spends her time staring at the driver through the rear mirror seemingly trying to murder him with her eyes.

Delta doesn't look at Eric once, not even during the two or three minutes that the lift takes to reach the floor where their detention room is. Before they are locked inside the room, the guard asks Eric for the name of a person that can come and take him home. He makes up a fictitious name and assures that the person is a close relative. At the other end of the room, Delta mentions another invented name with the confidence of an experienced liar. The two Candor guards seem pleased with their replies and note down the information.

'We'll come back to you when we've gotten a reply from your factions,' one of them says before leaving and locking the door behind him.

Delta paces under the dim light of the room while Eric sits on one of the two black leather benches, each aligned on opposite walls. The walls are painted black and there's a wide window covered with thick white curtains. Outside the window, Delta can see most of Candor, including a small part of the Merciless Mart, which stands really far away in the distance partially hidden by two white buildings covered in windows. The green of the trees planted along the pavement is the only colour that stands out in Candor. After a few minutes, Delta grows tired of walking up and down and Eric's restlessness slowly disappears. Air becomes breathable again.

'I lied,' Delta sits down on the bench in front of Eric's. She rests her elbows on her knees and stares at the floor, 'did you lie?' she asks intrigued.

'Yes,' Eric smirks as he turns his eyes to her. At that distance, Eric can easily see the shape of the tattoos of her arms, yet he still can't distinguish them. To him, they're strange symbols, geometric figures interlocked by straight lines, curves or other figures. Eric wonders if she has more tattoos covering the rest of her body. He can't see any on her neck or the upper part of her chest that shows beneath the open buttons of the shirt. Eric quickly looks away when Delta sits straight. 'I was hoping we could gain more time,' he says staring at the wall for a while until he feels confident enough to look at her again, 'any idea on how to get out of here?'

Delta approaches the door. Eric stands next to her and looks outside through the tiny glass opening on the door.

'Are you taking for granted that I've been locked up before?' Delta turns to him. They both peek through the glass again, their cheeks almost touching. 'So, yeah, I've been locked up before but never in Candor, so... you're gonna have to think,' she backs from the door.

'How did you get out of the other ones?' he asks without looking at her.

'I stole their keys when they brought lunch,' Delta's eyes focus on the ceiling, 'or escaped through the ventilation when they took me to the bathroom.'

Eric turns around with his hands on his hips. His frame looks powerful in that position, like he could rule the world if he wanted to. His face becomes sinister, disquieting, like there's a burning fire beneath a thick layer of ice, like there could be some Dauntless behind his Erudite mask. The smile that shows up on his face is drowning in vanity. Eric narrows his lids, a cunning look appearing in his icy eyes. Delta nods slowly feeling how his mood infects her brain like a contagious disease.

A few minutes later, when the Candor guard opens the door again, he only sees Eric. The guard approaches him and, when he's given a few steps, the door closes behind him. Tattooed arms fly around the man's shoulders and neck, they are tight against the man's throat and press down until he begins to choke.

Eric covers the little glass window while Delta kneels down, slowly bringing the Candor man down with her so that their difference is height doesn't play a role in their fight anymore. She's learned how to hold people like that in Dauntless, as it was one of Max's rewards to allow her to go to those lessons. Delta told Max that she didn't want any more tattoos as payment, that she wanted to learn what initiates learnt, and then, what full Dauntless members were taught. Max was hesitant, but he had accepted. People in Dauntless normally don't make a question, that's a trait for the Erudite, so it's easy to get away with things. Delta feels a sense of accomplishment when the technique she's learnt works and the man passes out in her arms. He's not dead, just unconscious.

Eric takes the keys from the man's pockets and they both step outside. They don't think that any other guards know their faces, so they walk at a normal pace through the long black tiled corridors trying to slow down their breathing. Every now and then, they walk by spacious areas with white walls and dark wood seats where Candor members exchange conversations and, in some corridors, Candor guards stand behind elevated desks that are placed right in front of black doors. Even though the guards' eyes are stuck in the screen of their computers, Eric and Delta coordinate their movements so that Eric will look at the floor and Delta will turn her face to him as if she was awaiting a reply from him.

'You really look like you know where you're going,' Delta whispers one of those times when she must look at him again.

'I'm merely following the signs,' he keeps walking ahead with his straight Erudite spine and what looks like a Dauntless fearless mindset, 'besides, you wanted us to be in here, at this time, did you not?' he turns around with half a smile in his otherwise flat face.

Eric has stopped walking by a black metal door that Delta hadn't noticed until that moment. Delta's heart races when a quick glance at the number on top of the door confirms what she's suspecting. 732. It's the room that she's supposed to open with the code that Max gave her. Eric points at a little keypad that's attached to a device on the wall. 'Go on,' Eric nods in the direction of the door and extends his arm as to indicate that she can step in front of him, 'open it.'

Delta dislikes the intonation of his voice. He sounds like he's addressing a child, or someone utterly stupid, and she's neither of those. However, because it was Max's plan, she does as told. She presses the six digits and opens the door. Eric pushes her inside.

The room is cold and dark, only illuminated by small points of soft white light that create intricate shadows around them. When their eyes have adapted to the darkness of it all, they distinguish the pattern of the black marble of the walls and see a long row of standing metallic shelves that extend all the way to the end of the long room. Eric walks ahead inspecting the small black cases stacked on the reflective ledges until he reaches the end of the room. They turn left and stand by the corner, the shelf on their right hiding the entrance door. No one can see them even if they entered the room.

'How did you know?' Delta asks with a low voice.

'Because I'm not stupid,' Eric snaps, 'unlike the Dauntless.'

'Does your aunt know?'

'What do you think?' Eric glares at her. He's angry but Delta can't understand why, since he's gained control and seems to know what he's doing. Eric grabs one of the black cases and strokes the surface with the tip of her fingers before opening it. Inside, there are at least ten syringes and an equal number of vials of the truth serum; the same one that the Candor use for trials and during their initiation.

'Wow, that's a lot,' Delta gives a step back when she sees the amount of serum that Eric has loaded into one syringe.

'I have to do this,' Eric doesn't look at her. He checks the amount of liquid by counting the small lines printed on the syringe, 'and I know that Max told you to let me do it.'

'Not with so much serum,' Delta places her hands in front of her to prevent Eric from walking towards her, 'I was the one that had to load the syringe.'

'You should've been quicker, then,' Eric finally turns his eyes to her, 'and more attentive.'

Delta gives one more step back.

'Listen, Eric,' she gulps, 'Max and Jeanine are using you, and m-'

'You don't think I know that?' Eric roars, 'I know I can't trust them.'

'Then, why are you gonna make me go through that?' she inquires glowering at him.

'Because I want to know if I can trust you,' Eric mutters under his breath, 'I'll go through it too... but you go first.'

Before Delta knows it, the blond Erudite boy reaches her in two big steps, and the needle of the syringe he's holding releases the serum deep inside her skin. Eric's fingers drop the syringe as Delta quickly looses her balance and her body slides down the marble walls towards the floor. Eric sits in front of her with his neck tilted to a side, shocked at the speed in which the serum has taken control of her body and mind, worried that he might have put too much, although he hides that feeling with the proficiency of a trained actor.

After a few seconds, the room suddenly doesn't feel so cold to Delta. She realizes that there's warmth in her body; that warmth, however, lingers between comfortability and pain, as if her whole body was hanging on top of a pyre and the distance between her skin and the fire was just the precise one not to get burnt. She fights to sit up, her arms are too weak when they stretch to support her body but, suddenly, the reason why she's even trying to incorporate herself doesn't seem so relevant.

'What's your name?' Eric asks.

'Delta Turner,' she replies instantly.

'Faction?'

'Dauntless.'

Delta rubs her eyes trying to peer through the mental fog that's been laid down over her mind. She recognizes the voice that's questioning her, but can't put a face to it. Not that it matters, anyways.

'What did Max tell you to do exactly?' Eric requests to know with a frown.

Delta lets out a quick sharp breath and fixates her drowsy eyes on him. Her jaw tenses so much that Eric can hear a little crack, veins appear in her temples and she closes her eyes with strength. 'Please,' she says through her lips, 'Eric.'

'I-' he scratches his eyebrow considering his words, 'I'll go after you. Answer.'

Delta's sighs becomes a low guttural sound and her body shrinks, her knees on her chest, her fingers trying to sink into the ground. 'He told me to befriend you, to take you to Dauntless, to take you to the other factions, to make sure you...' she hits the ground with her fist, 'you became Dauntless.'

Eric takes a deep breath.

'Is Max acting behind my aunt's back?'

'I don't know,' Delta cries, 'he doesn't tell me anything.'

'Are _you_ acting behind my back?'

Delta swallows hard. 'No-, I-, I don't know!' she brings her hands to her face, 'I don't know what I'm doing, I lie to Max about you, I haven't told him that you know that I was sent by him and Jeanine. I just- I have to get you to choose Dauntless. You have to become Dauntless.'

Eric gulps and stares at her for a while.

'So, what will you tell Max when you go back?'

'I won't lie, but I won't tell the entire truth either,' Delta sighs feeling an attempt of the burning pain to attack her head again, 'I'll say that I convinced you to take the serum, that you don't suspect anything, and that you're just one more confused teenager who will do anything that Jeanine tells you to do... I'll also say that I think you're full of yourself, just like the other Erudites, and that you're too smart for Dauntless.'

'Are you on my side?' Eric demands.

'Unless you piss me off, I am,' Delta blurts out.

When the pain dissipates, Delta opens her eyes again. She sits up to catch her breath, her head hiding between her knees, the palm of her hands extended on the floor just to reassure herself that her balance is working again. Delta doesn't talk during the minute or two that it takes for the serum to completely stop affecting her mind because she is scared that she'll say something she might regret. She hears Eric's jeans sliding against the floor and feels how he sits next to her, his back against the wall.

'Do it before I change my mind,' Eric says before placing a syringe and a vial on her hand. Delta hesitates to close her fingers around the serum, and keeps an eye on Eric while she loads the syringe. His stare is serious but also dejected when he nods at her. Slowly, Delta feels the side of his neck with her fingers and inserts the needle carefully. She kneels in front of him and stretches her back to position herself like she imagines judges do at trials. She's tempted to use the power she has over Eric in that exact moment, but she remembers her own words and wants to live up to them. They are both on the same side.

'What does your aunt have to do with this?' Delta asks when she realizes that Eric has begun to observe her with a blank expression and lethargic eyes. He coughs, rotates his neck to fight the pain, but finally gives up.

'She wants me to be her eyes in Dauntless, she's always told me I had to be prepared to leave Erudite,' Eric's breathing becomes faster and his face turns red, 'she wants to control Dauntless.'

Delta raises one of her eyebrows not surprised at his reply. 'Why?'

'I don't know,' Eric hits the back of his head against the wall, 'to control the city, I suppose.'

'Did you know I was lying to you from the beginning?' Delta asks driven by an impulse.

'Yes,' he whispers, 'you had to believe that you were in control, you, and Max, and the other Dauntless leaders,' Eric takes a deep breath.

'Is Jeanine using Max?'

'Yeah, she uses everyone. Including me.'

'What are _you_ gonna tell your aunt when you go back to her later?'

Eric struggles for a while. 'I will lie. I will tell her that, as planned, I didn't take the serum... and that you are as stupid as the other Dauntless.'

'Do you like me?' Delta asks with relish.

'Delta...' Eric murmurs in anger, his body shrinking a little bit again, 'I don't know if I like you.'

'Hm, interesting,' she smiles.

'Stop,' Eric manages to look up at her.

'Are you on my side?'

Eric nods.

'Yes, I am.'

'Good, then I'll stop.' Delta dries the sweat away from her face pleased with his answers and puts the empty vials and two syringes back inside the case while she waits for Eric to regain his normal state of mind. Delta lends Eric a hand that he takes to help him stand again, and they both eye each other for a second.

'She also wants to destroy the Divergent,' Eric says all of a sudden.

'Why?' Delta asks.

'She hasn't told me, but I can make a guess... Max knows about it too.'

Delta nods.

'I'll tell him anyways, so he can think I did something useful in here.'

Eric and Delta walk in between the metallic shelves towards the door very aware that probably the Candor guards are looking for them, and that they might have located their position. They stand side-by-side right in front of the entrance to the outside wall and the exit to their private talk.

'Same team,' Eric says before turning the handle.

'Same team,' Delta replies.

Jeanine Matthews's stolid façade is not what Eric and Delta had expected to meet at the other side of the door. The blond Erudite woman is clearly gloating over the situation, although she manages to conceal her semblance from the two Candor guards that stand by her side.

'Well, you two are quite a deadly combination,' Jeanine smirks somewhat proud, 'I've been informed of everything that's happened, and I have to admit that I am extremely surprised that someone from my own faction would do something like this. However, the Erudite are curious by nature, so I'm sure that Eric, here, only wanted to gain knowledge about this respectable faction.'

At the end of the corridor, Eric catches a glimpse of Max, the Dauntless leader, and two other Dauntless soldiers. Delta strides along the corridor with pleasure to avoid Jeanine Matthews' presence, and doesn't look back when she is grabbed by the shoulders and guided outside the building.

'How did it go?' Max asks her releasing the pressure off her arm as soon as the doors of the lift close.

'As you told me it would,' Delta leans against the wall carelessly.

'You're talking to a leader,' he scoffs.

'He has no idea of what's going on.'

'Good.'

'Why does Jeanine want to know what we do?'

'She's Erudite. She wants to know everything,' Max says looking away, 'no more questions. You're starting to sound like an Erudite yourself.'

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! We're back!  
**


	5. Chapter 5 - The Abnegation Mirror

**Chapter 5 - The Abnegation Mirror**

Even though there are no windows, Jeanine Matthews' office is as bright as one can imagine. The room has the structure of a cube of perfect proportions and Jeanine's desk stands right in the center. The desk is white, like the walls, and on it there's a blue pen and a sheet of paper. There's nothing else inside the room apart from Jeanine herself, and Eric.

'Have all Erudite leaders sat inside this room?' the boy asks.

'No, I designed this one myself. Different minds need different environments in order to reach maximal functionality,' she looks around, 'I am comfortable here.' Jeanine places her hands on top of the desk, right on the edge of the sheet of paper. The look in her eyes is patronizing when she talks to Eric again, 'do you want to become a leader one day, Eric?'

'I can't,' his reply is simple. Jeanine also knows that he can't become the leader of the Erudite. There are other members of the faction with higher intelligence quotients than his.

'You are right,' Jeanine hides a grimace, 'but you can become a leader in another faction. Think of what your intelligence could achieve in another faction, like, let's say-'

'Dauntless?' Eric interrupts her.

'Yes,' she nods, 'Dauntless. I want you to have a good life, a good position in society, and Dauntless can give you that. Dauntless can give you power. You can still be an Erudite, but in the shape of a Dauntless leader,' Jeanine smiles without showing her teeth, 'I am sure you will consider this thought.'

'Of course,' Eric stands up since his aunt's last sentence sounded like a good-bye.

'Oh, before you go,' Jeanine calls him, 'it's Visiting Day today. Will you go to Candor with your father?'

Eric grits his teeth.

'No,' he says as calmly as his anger allows him.

'Then perhaps you could visit your friend in Dauntless,' Jeanine suggests, 'I'm sure she'll appreciate some distraction from such a harsh initiation.'

'You are sure of many things.'

'That's the gift of intelligence, my dear.'

Eric leaves the headquarters of his faction with a growing anger that he's not sure he can control. Outside, in the street, Erudite is more colorful than usual. People from different factions gather around the central building and greet their relatives with hugs, shakes of hands, or with a simple stiff nod. Eric walks past the small gatherings leaving a trace of discomfort behind him that makes people open a path for him among the crowd. His legs take him to the city center, to the feet of the Hub, and his anger still persists. However, at that point the anger has turned into anxiety and confusion.

'Hey, Eric!' a familiar voice calls him. It's one of his Erudite classmates. 'No one to visit?'

Eric clenches his fists. They don't know about his father but the shame invades him anyways. He doesn't even know why he's ashamed of it. Some inhabitants are transfers. It's something common, but it confuses him. It confuses him that Amities can conceive a Dauntless, or that Candors can conceive a Stiff. Why not create a genetically engineered society where every one is born where they belong, where there are no transfers, and every single individual is pure in their blood? It would fix so many problems, and it would have certainly fixed his if someone had come up with that idea first.

Eric pretends that he can't hear his words and paces ahead towards Dauntless. He wants to take the trains, but they are full of Dauntless members and he doesn't think he will be welcomed, not with those blue clothes and clean untouched skin. While he walks in the direction of the glass building, Eric thinks of Delta. It seems like yesterday that she was just like him, a pre-initiate, not a full member of any faction; factionless, in a way. Time has passed by unnoticed. The last time Eric saw her was in Candor, when she was being pushed away by Max and the others. That had happened only two months before her Choosing Ceremony, and they hadn't seen each other ever since.

Eric moves the metal plank where Delta used to hide the faction clothes that she put on during her adventures, as she called them, but it's empty. He's heard of Dauntless initiation, so statistically she could be dead. Eric gulps, and takes a deep breath before entering the dark tunnel that leads to the guts of the Dauntless compound.

It smells of chocolate at the cafeteria in Dauntless. The tables are full, and some of the Dauntless members are already drunk. Eric searches the room, then inspects the walls, the little paths carved in the rock, and reaches the conclusion that he will never find Delta on his own. Instead of approaching the Dauntless born, Eric moves to a side and looks at the transfers that talk to people wearing different faction clothes. He approaches a girl that has just hugged a Candor woman.

'Hi, I'm looking for an initiate named Delta Turner,' Eric tells her while sending a cold smile to the girl's parents, 'she's Dauntless born.'

'Ah, I don't talk to the Dauntless born very much,' the girl browses the Dauntless faces around them, 'but I know her surname. She usually hangs out with a guy with a crappy green mohawk, Syd,' she looks around again, 'there he is, he likes to get drunk but he's in quite good shape right now.'

Eric looks in the direction that the former Candor girl points at and easily distinguishes the flat uncombed green mohawk of the so-called Syd.

'He doesn't bite,' the girl adds looking at Eric's clothes, 'you're safe, Erudite.'

Eric waits for a good moment to approach the guy. Syd's not very tall, but his shoulders are broad and his back's rather massive. Eric has never met anyone related to Delta, or close to her in the least, and this new individual seems interesting to analyse. Syd's face can't be seen from his position, but Eric can very clearly see the tattoos that cover every inch of his arms, shoulders and neck.

'What are you looking at?' Syd barks loudly. Eric laughs in the inside at such a poor attempt to intimidate him, but he stops walking nonetheless.

'I've been told you know Delta Turner,' Eric says, 'I'm looking for her.'

'Who are you?'

'Does it matter?'

Syd laughs.

'No, it doesn't, man,' Syd shakes his head still smiling. He has two piercings on his lower lip, one on each side, and a small ring in the nose. No tattoos on his face. 'She's up in her parents' apartment, cleaning up and stuff. You know where it is?'

'Yes, I remember, thank you,' Eric expects some sort of mockery or insult coming from the green haired Dauntless initiate, but nothing happens.

'You're welcome,' Syd rises his glass full of beer to him, 'have a good one.'

The way to Delta's place is more crowded than it has been before, although when Eric reaches the end of the tunnel that leads to the bridge, the place becomes deserted and he only crosses paths with two Dauntless girls that almost push him to a side when they race against each other in their way.

The door that leads to Delta's room is open, but the inside is deserted. No bed, no knives on the walls, no clothes on the floor. Eric gives one more step scanning the room with his curious eyes.

'Hey,' a voice talks behind him. Delta's. 'What are you doing here?' she walks into the room and allows him to come inside as well.

'It's Visiting Day,' Eric observes her like he's studying the movements of a wolf in a cage.

'I hadn't noticed,' Delta rolls her eyes, 'At least ten people have asked me to take them to the Pit, the chasm, the cafeteria, or the fricking toilet.'

'You're not visiting anyone, I see,' Eric paces around the empty room and peeks outside the window.

'I'm visiting this place. Technically, it still belongs to my parents, but not after I become a full member, so I gotta get rid of it,' she looks around, 'then I'll choose my own place.'

Delta lowers the window blinds until no light goes through. Eric takes it as a sign that they are leaving the place so he steps outside and waits for her to lock the door. As it seems it has become a habit, Delta's arms are more covered in tattoos than before. She still has some clear spaces, especially on the shoulders and hands, but now even her ten fingers are inked with fine black lines that follow intricate paths and cross minuscule geometrical shapes. Its complexity is beautiful in a way. It reminds Eric of all the nerve connections inside one's brain or a circuit board inside a computer.

'Your skin tells me lots of things have happened to you lately,' Eric points at her hands with his eyes.

Delta regards her own fingers.

'Yeah,' she blinks rapidly, 'lots of things happen during initiation.'

Delta's face turns even paler and for a minute or two she doesn't talk or make a sound. She walks ahead like she's being pulled by strings that decide the way, while Eric follows her steps noticing that something has changed in Delta. Her collection of scars has grown considerably and some wounds are clearly fresh. She has stitches on the back of her neck, and uncountable bruises on her arms. The light inside her eyes also seem to have gone off, although they light back on every now and then.

'What do you want, Eric?' she asks him when they have left the stone tunnels behind and the air of the outside fills their lungs again. They step out of the compound and sit by the railway, watching the trains go by one way and the other.

Eric doesn't know what to reply, because he truly doesn't know what he wants.

'I don't know,' he looks at the ground, a hint of sadness and concern making his brow furrow, 'my aunt insisted that I join Dauntless.'

'I'd wait for the Aptitude Test to make a decision,' Delta places one leg on top of the other. The fabric of her black jeans stretches and the skin of her ankles is exposed. More ink.

'What did you get in yours?' Eric asks even though he knows they are not supposed to talk about it.

'Well, I gutted a dog with a knife, and choked a man in a bus. What do you think I got?'

'Maniac?' Eric turns his face to her, 'we have Abnegation left.'

'Are you still up for that? I thought you had forgotten,' Delta glances at a group of people that have emerged from the tunnels behind them. They're Erudite relatives leaving the place.

Eric extends his hand to Delta, and she takes it as a support to stand up again. Her body is light when Eric pulls from her arm, and the touch of her skin reminds Eric of the first time that he accompanied her in one of those _adventures._ They had explored Amity and ran together through the fields until they had hidden in the forest.

Delta first, and Eric second, jump into the next train, and stand by the open door watching the city pass by, ignoring the stares that a few Dauntless members are sending to the Erudite clothes and the teenager inside them. Eric sticks his head out of the door, the wind immediately pulling his air back and taking with it all the anxiety and stress that had been building up. He looks at the city ahead, his hand holding onto the handle with a new strength, his eyes owning everything that they see. Buildings, bridges, people, trees. He likes to feel the speed of the train and imagine that all that power is being transmitted to his body through that hand on the handle and his feet on the metal.

Eric looks back at the Dauntless people. They keep staring at him with both confusion and condescension, but Eric smirks with genuinely calm eyes and his lips maliciously curl up on a side. If he becomes a leader in Dauntless, he'll be able to control those brainless people, they'll obey him without asking questions, and then they'll look at him with respect instead of condescendence.

Damen station is close to the intersection of North and Damen avenues. The place barely stands in the air supported by rusty metal columns that lost their colour a long time ago. Delta climbs down the structure first, then Eric follows. The surface is less even than expected so they both loose their balance and fall down as soon as their feet land on the different levels of cracked asphalt. Delta rolls out of the fall smoothly, standing on her feet right afterwards. Eric's instinct tosses his arms in front of his body and he ends up receiving the crash with his hands, scratching them with the ground and making them bleed. His face meets the ground afterwards, although the hit isn't so harsh and he only gets a superficial cut on a cheek.

'Are you okay there?' Delta asks without even looking at him. She scans the buildings around them and readjusts her Dauntless vest.

'Sure,' Eric's voice is muffled by the sound of his clothes as he stands up. His face is red from the fall and the effort of standing up after the crash. He shakes some pieces of gravel out of his hair and smoothens it back with his hands.

Delta laughs.

'What?' Eric asks slightly annoyed.

'You and your hair,' she chuckles.

'Gotta look nice for the Stiffs,' he follows Delta's steps still feeling the burn of the fall in his hands.

'And not for me?' Delta snickers looking back at him with her sneaky narrowed lids.

'Should've asked you more questions in Candor, huh?' Eric says with a cheeky smile.

'You missed your chance,' Delta jumps on top of a bench and inspects the area ahead, 'man, _stiff_ is such an appropriate word for these people.'

In front of them, rows and rows of identical small cement houses break the usual Chicagoan landscape of tall buildings. The houses are simple structures made of cubical two-story units that are joined side by side. People in grey clothes walk among them with their stares directed at the ground and faces as flat as their surroundings. Delta and Eric are shocked by the austerity of it all, although it is nothing far from what they had imagined.

'Even the grass is bored,' Eric stomps his foot outside the path and onto the yellowish grass lawn that surrounds the buildings. He makes sure that the sole of his shoe is left marked on the soil beneath.

'Did we seriously come here for this?' Delta stops walking, her hands on her hips.

'Well, what did you expect? They live up to their name,' Eric moves his neck quickly when the door to a house opens and a woman wearing grey steps outside. She's wary of them. ' _Stiffs_ ,' Eric says with an arrogant contempt.

Delta looks at the woman hang her clothes outside like she's watching plants grow, but then something catches her attention. Stacked wooden boxes by the side wall of the next house. Her quick steps on the gravel wake up Eric from the semi-trance in which he had entered by observing the waves of the sheets being moved in the wind. He catches her pace and they both climb up the house when no one's looking.

They lie on the roof to hide their bodies behind the few inches of cement wall that sticks out of the building top, and from there, they observe Abnegation and spy on the neighbours through the window.

'That one will be an Erudite,' Delta points at the neighbour window. There is a boy sitting on the floor surrounded by books.

'Technically, he already is,' Eric says disgusted, 'although not officially.'

A girl enters the room and the boy hurries to hide the books. Delta and Eric laugh and turn to lie on their backs. They sky is clear and a few white clouds wander above their heads. They feel a sense of freedom that they had only felt while being up in the top of Eric's building in Erudite. No cameras can watch them there, no eyes can be laid on them.

Delta rises her hand up in the air and plays with the rays of sun blocking them with her hands to let them pass through her fingers right afterwards. She then closes one eye and observes how the position of her hand changes if she closes the other one instead.

'It's called perspective,' Eric says.

'Thank you for enlightening me,' Delta mocks him.

'No problem.'

Eric glances at her.

'So, do you like me?' he asks.

Delta keeps playing with the sun.

'Are you gonna be a coward and avoid my question?' he turns his eyes to her and smiles at her flaring nostrils and her pissed-off look, 'Dauntless...' he says to himself being aware that she can hear him.

'That doesn't work on me,' Delta sits up. The sun behind her prevents Eric from seeing her face, but he can distinguish her eyes and her ready-to-mock-him smile. However, she remains silent and looks away at the horizon. 'Sometimes I like you, sometimes I don't,' she tells him before crawling to the other end of the roof and looking down the wall trying to see inside the windows, 'this place is empty. Let's take a look inside.'

Before Eric has time to reach her position, Delta hangs herself on the side of the house, her inked fingers holding the weight of her body while she balances her legs. Carefully, she puts a foot on the edge of the window, then the other one, and when she feels stable enough, she lets go of her hands and slides into the room. She sticks out her head and makes a sign for Eric to follow. She guides him through his movements and helps him stabilise his body by holding his legs. When he lets go, Delta makes room for him to get in safely.

'No one lives here,' she says passing her finger over the dusty windowsill.

'You think they have water?' Eric asks her showing the palm of his hands. They're full of blood and dirt.

They find the bathroom in the same floor and Eric washes his hands in the sink while Delta paces around inspecting the place. Down in the first floor, the tiny living room is empty, but the kitchen still has some utensils inside the drawers. She finds wooden knives and passes her fingers over them. Upstairs, she can still hear the water running and splashing inside the sink. She grabs two of the knives and runs back up again.

'Wanna play a game?' Delta grins from ear to ear as she shows Eric the wooden knives.

'Let me guess,' he dries his hands on his clothes, 'do we have to kill each other?'

Delta nods with electrified eyes.

'Okay,' Eric takes the knife he's offered, 'what are the rules?'

Delta thinks.

'We can't leave the house, and we can't _actually_ kill each other.'

'Good to know,' he strokes the edge of the knife, 'is that it?'

'We have ten seconds to hide,' she looks around, 'starting now.'

Eric hears Delta running downstairs and then the thud of her shoes being tossed to the floor. He takes his shoes off as well, loosens the collar around his neck and tests the reaction of the wooden floor to his steps. Noisy. The floor of the whole house is made of old wooden planks and any minimal movement makes it creak. However, Eric can't hear anything else apart from his breathing and his own steps. He stays in the exact same position for a while, paying attention to any sound that could be coming from downstairs. Eric is frustrated that he has so easily become the prey in their game, and that Delta is so obviously the hunter. He knows that they are not being judged, that Delta is not going to kill him, but his heart races and his breathing becomes uneven.

Eric calms himself down and slowly walks towards the staircase, the knife in his hand preceding his body. Downstairs, more silence. Then, a creak. Eric quickly turns his eyes towards the sound. It came from the right, from the living room. With his back stuck to the wall, he goes down step by step, his eyes scanning every corner, his ears acting as a radar, his nose waiting to detect the smell of Delta's Dauntless clothing. Another creak. For an instant, Eric thinks of Delta as a clumsy fool for making those two noises, but then he realises that he's being way more noisier than her and that she probably knows his location and is observing him closely. He sighs, purses his lips, and keeps walking ahead.

Connecting the living room and one more bedroom is a narrow dark corridor. Eric walks along the corridor with such careful steps that he has the urge to laugh at himself. It's the first time that he's ever actually laughed at himself, and it doesn't feel so wrong. Quick steps follow him. He turns around and Delta is at the other end. Eric looks back searching for an exit but the only way of getting out of there _alive_ is trying to fight her. Delta's knees are slightly bent, the weight of her body leaning forwards, like she's ready to launch herself against him, and she does that alright.

Eric has no idea of how to defend himself, so he's quickly held by the neck from behind and Delta's knife is right on his throat.

'You wanna be Dauntless,' Delta says to his ear, 'you gotta learn how to defend yourself.'

Eric shakes his body but Delta's arms are stuck to his shoulders and pull him back. She can control his movements easily and every now and then, she presses the knife more and more into his skin to remind him that he would already be dead. In a burst of anger, Eric manages to set himself free. He pushes Delta against the wall and tries to imitate her previous grip. Delta lets him try his luck, and suddenly, the game becomes a lesson.

'Still have this shoulder free,' Delta moves her arm up and down, 'you have to immobilise it.'

'What's that?' Eric asks suddenly, still trying to hold her free shoulder.

Their cheeks are stuck to each other's, so it's enough with a quick movement of Eric's head to show Delta the direction in which he's looking at. Right in front of their faces, a small wooden case hangs from the wall. It looks like the cabinets from the kitchen but it's much smaller and narrow. The three buttons on a side is what catches their attention. Delta's inked fingers stroke the metal outline of the buttons, then she presses one of them, and a sliding door is unlocked. Delta gives a smothered laugh.

'It's a mirror,' she says.

Delta slides the door to a side and the mirror is revealed.

'It's us,' Delta pokes the eye of Eric's reflection.

Eric shuts his eye as if he was in pain.

'I like you now,' Delta says staring at their faces.

'Why?' Eric tilts the knife on her neck.

'Because you're not hurting me,' Delta's eyes fly away from her own reflection and land on his. He's looking straight back at her.

'I could,' he says.

'You won't,' Delta holds his knife and presses it further into her own skin. Eric fights her strength and manages to separate the wooden blade from her throat. Up until that point Eric hasn't even paid attention to her face being against his, but looking at their reflection, he begins to notice the warmth of her skin, the movement of her jaw as she talks, her eyelashes blinking right by his eye.

'Probably this is the longest that this mirror has reflected anyone,' Delta touches the surface with two fingers making them walk over their faces.

'We are kind of profaning it,' Eric shows his teeth with a sneaky smile.

Delta takes the knife away from her throat like she would have taken candy from a child's hand, and then keeps it inside one of the pockets of her jeans. She tilts her head.

'We're the same,' she says alternating her eyes between Eric's reflection and hers. She approaches the mirror as if she were trying to see through it, 'people,' she lays her forehead against the surface, 'humans.'

'I want to be Dauntless,' Eric says behind her.

'Are you sure of that?'

Eric nods.

Delta makes funny faces to the mirror and chuckles. Then she focus on his reflection again.

'You can't lie to your own face,' she turns around and stares directly at him, 'maybe that's why the Stiffs don't dare to look at the mirror for too long. 'Cus they wouldn't be able to keep lying to themselves.'

Eric's eyebrows rise as he nods.

'Good thought. I'm surprised.'

Delta crosses her arms on her chest and bites the inside of her cheek. She can't stop thinking about the idea of Eric joining Dauntless. It doesn't seem natural to her, and for a second or two, she remembers what they talked about in Candor; what no one else should know.

'I want to be a leader,' Eric continues, his face becoming sterner by the second, 'in Dauntless.'

Delta nods, and considers putting the knife back in the drawer where she found it, but then she decides to keep it.

'If I became a leader in Dauntless, you would have to obey my orders,' Eric paces closer to her.

'Unless I become a leader myself,' Delta pushes him away, 'you're thirsty for power, you're such an Erudite.'

'I have the theory that every person in this city belongs to the faction they were born in,' he tells her following outside, 'it's in our blood. Stiffs will always be Stiffs,' he looks around at the Abnegation buildings with disdain, 'Dauntless will always be Dauntless, and I,' he points at his chest, 'I'll always be Erudite.'

'I never liked transfers, or the idea of transfers becoming full members. They're not like us, they weren't _born_ Dauntless.'

'So, one day you'll dislike me as well.'

'You said you'll always be Erudite, and I believe you. I don't think I could ever see anything else than Erudite in you. You'll be an Erudite in Dauntless clothes, that's what the mirror said.'

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 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Opinions and reviews are very much welcomed :)**


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